Hiking jacket, boots and wicking T shirt

Several weeks have passed since I purchased the hiking gear and I have now worn the boots, jacket and T shirt in a variety of weather conditions and on some very variable terrain.

The jacket really is great and the more that I wear it the more impressed I am by it.

The manufacturer is Keela and it really does live up to “and beyond” my expectations. At the time I thought that £100 was a lot of money for this garment, but now I feel that it was excellent value for the money. Only last week I found yet another hidden pocket that I previously did not know existed and the clever way that you can access the various pockets whilst keeping the jacket in weatherproof mode is clever rather than (as I suggested before) gimmicky.

The boots do not score quite as highly as the jacket in my book. They are made by Salomon and, whilst they are very comfortable and waterproof – and for that matter breathable, I do have some reservations about them.

The main problem is the quality of the grip in muddy, leafy or slippery underfoot conditions.

This problem may in part be of my own making as I bought these boots based on a recommendation from the seller that was based on my description of their anticipated use.

At the time I did not envisage doing much walking in the rain, let alone walking in 3 or 4 inch deep mud, or a slippery mush of leaves and dirt. I think that it may therefore be possible that my application of these boots is harsher than their use is made for, but even so their inability to give me a good footing when my wife’s similar (and by another manufacturer’s) boots do, gives me some disappointment.

The big problem with these boots is that the tread clogs up very easily and consequently becomes a smooth slippery surface. With my wife’s boots the smaller gaps between the projecting tread seem more able to eject any collected debris as she walks. This means that I sometimes feel my foot starting to slip on terrain that she has a vice like grip on. All told “slightly” disappointing.

The wicking T shirts are excellent. They do the job very well and, in combination with the jacket, it is very easy to manage your bodies heat so that you never feel too hot or (so far at least) too cold.